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A commercial entitled "Hope, Not Hell" debuted this month in theaters across the United Kingdom, and currently runs before blockbuster films such as Star Wars, Pitch Perfect 3, and Murder On The Orient Express. The commercial was created by UK-based vegan nonprofit Viva! and features rescued pig Hope and her piglets experiencing freedom for the first time, syncing up her "dance of joy" to harrowing footage from factory farms. "We contrast her freedom with her sisters and brothers inside factory farms," Viva founder Juliet Gellatley said, "so it is incredibly poignant." The advertisement was created using £102,000 ($136,393) that the nonprofit received from crowdfunding. The advertisement, which runs until January 4, has the potential to reach more than two million movie-goers this holiday season. (vegnews.com)

Members of Scottish Parliament (MSP) unanimously voted last week to ban the use of wild animals in traveling circuses across Scotland. "This is an important act that will not only prevent travelling circuses ever showing wild animals in Scotland in the future," Scotland's Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said, "but will demonstrate to the wider world that we are one of the growing number of countries that no longer condones the use of wild animals in this way." The new legislation was introduced in May after a public poll revealed that 98 percent of Scottish citizens did not support the use of wild animals in circuses. The ban does not apply to static circuses, but several MSPs voiced their hopes that a similar ban will soon be signed to remove those animals from exploitation. Similarly, the Republic of Ireland will implement a similar ban starting January 1. (vegnews.com)

In a recent interview with Irish men's lifestyle website JOE.ie, Daisy Ridley—who plays the lead character "Rey" in the film Star Wars: The Last Jedi—revealed she is vegan. During the film's production tour, Ridley stopped by Los Angeles eatery Mr. Chow, stating, "Someone did a great order—I’m vegan!—[they] did a great order for me. It was delicious." Ridley is also the human companion to a special needs rescue dog named Muffin, who is blind and deaf. The actress' announcement that she is vegan follows recent headlines pointing to a very vegan moment in the blockbuster film, in which Chewbacca—the fluffy Star Wars icon—refuses to eat a chicken-like carcass after connecting it to his wide-eyed Porg alien animal friends. (vegnews.com)

Fashion designer Tom Ford confirmed that he has gone vegan. Ford explained in the January 2018 issue of Vogue that he made the change this summer after watching acclaimed vegan documentary What the Health. Ford revealed he is still transitioning to the new lifestyle and looking for a suitable vegan replacement to the only non-vegan food that remains in his diet—candy "Percy Pigs," which contain gelatin. Ford sent a note to fellow designer Stella McCartney to announce the news, stating, "Stella, you're not going to believe this." McCartney congratulated Ford for his decision to be more compassionate to animals, a mission that the vegetarian designer has implemented into several of her recent collections—including a faux leather vegan "skin-free skin" line McCartney debuted at Paris Fashion Week last spring. (vegnews.com)

New Netflix docu-seriesRotten—produced by Zero Point Zero—is set to debut on January 5. The series aims to expose the corruption behind the eating habits of Americans—including those present in the animal agriculture industry. "In the last 50 years," the trailer for the series states, "food has turned into a commodity to be traded like a stock or a bond. With money to be had, there will be fraud in the marketplace." The six-part docu-series will focus on various aspects of animal agriculture, including spotlights on the dairy, fish, and honey industries—the latter of which will be discussed with a focus on "Honeygate," the largest food-fraud investigation in recent history. "If you eat food," the trailer states, "this is an issue you need to worry about." (vegnews.com)

The new Star Wars: The Last Jedi film features several animal-rights plot twists, including an overtly vegan scene starring iconic character Chewbacca. The scene unfolds as Chewbacca picks up a roasted porg (a wide-eyed, bird-like alien animal) with the intention of eating his/or her body while listening to an agitated group of porgs whimper in horror. Ultimately, Chewbacca opts not to eat the porg and befriends the group of space birds for the duration of the movie. While the film featured several scenes that were decidedly not vegan-friendly The Last Jedi explored a number of animal-rights centric themes. Fathiers—space horses—are liberated by character Rose Tico after she discovers they are being exploited for entertainment in wealthy city Canto Bight. Lastly, vulptexes (space foxes with crystal fur) are shown as intelligent beings that are instrumental in the film's resolution. (vegnews.com)

Michael Kors Holdings Limited, a global fashion luxury group, announced that it will no longer use animal fur in its products, with production being phased out by the end of December 2018. With this announcement, Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo have joined the international Fur Free Retailer Program. "I am pleased to announce our company's commitment to no longer use animal fur in our Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo collections," said John D. Idol, the Company's Chairman and CEO. "This decision marks a new chapter as our company continues to evolve its use of innovative materials." "Due to technological advances in fabrications, we now have the ability to create a luxe aesthetic using non-animal fur," said designer Michael Kors. "We will showcase these new techniques in our upcoming runway show in February." Michael Kors joins Gucci, Armani, Yoox Net-a-Porter, Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss as fur-free leaders in luxury fashion. (furfreeretailer.com)

New vegan documentary Eating Our Way to Extinction is set to debut in 2018. London-based brothers Ludo and Otto Brockway produced the film after closing a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in January. The Brockway brothers released a four-minute clip in 2016 that actor Leonardo DiCaprio shared on Twitter with the caption, "The video future generations will be wishing everyone watched today." The new full-length documentary—which will debut as a Facebook film—focuses on the devastating environmental and health effects of animal agriculture, presented with research that shows the intelligent, emotional lives of farmed animals, with the aim to inspire viewers to adopt a vegan lifestyle. DiCaprio—who has been rumored to follow a plant-based diet—served as executive director for groundbreaking film Cowspiracy and has invested substantial capital in vegan brand Beyond Meat and chickpea snack company HIPPEAS. (vegnews.com)

Catskill Animal Sanctuary launched a billboard campaign this week in New York City's famed Times Square encouraging people to expand compassion to all animals this holiday season by going vegan. The campaign features several of the sanctuary's rescued animals, including rescued pig Amelia and Tula the goat, along with the words "Help Her Know Love." The sanctuary's campaign also encourages people to take photos in front of the billboards and post them to social media with the hashtag #ineedyoutoo. Catskill Animal Sanctuary opened in 2001, and has since saved over 4,000 animals through direct emergency rescue. (vegnews.com)

During a board meeting on November 28, Los Angeles Board of Animal Services Commissioner Roger Wolfson proposed that all animal shelters in Los Angeles switch to feeding dogs vegan food. Wolfson—who is also a screenwriter for Law & Order: SVU and a former speechwriter for politicians Ted Kennedy and John Kerry—proposed the plan after observing that the health of his two companion shelter dogs improved significantly on an animal-free diet. "Feeding dogs plant-based diets eliminates a huge host of health concerns, allergies, and cancers," Wolfson said. Famed vegan journalist/animal-rights activist Jane Velez-Mitchell supported Wolfson's proposal and believes the initiative could have a larger impact on the destructive animal agriculture industry. (vegnews.com)

Market research firm Bharat Book Bureau (BBB) published a report this week that forecasts that the vegan cheese sector will be worth $3.906 billion by 2024. The report estimates that the vegan cheese market will experience a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6 percent in the next six years, driven by changing consumer habits. "Various factors such as growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly and animal-free sources of protein," the report stated, "rising concerns over antibiotic, allergens, hormone use, [and] animal welfare concerns are driving the growth of the global vegan market." BBB's report is aligned with those of other market research firms that have predicted exponential growth within the plant-based sector—including Grand View Research, which predicted that the plant-based milk industry will be worth $35 billion by 2024. (vegnews.com)

Popular vegan documentary What the Health announced this week that it has been nominated for a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Award. The documentary exposed corporate interests in concealing how the consumption of animal products adversely affects human health. Many viewers, particularly people of color (including musician Ne-Yo; NBA players Jahlil Okafor, Kyrie Irving, JaVale McGee, and Damian Lillard; reality star Porsha Williams; and 11 members of NFL team Tennessee Titans) chose to adopt a plant-based diet after the film’s June release on Netflix. The film is competing in the "Outstanding Documentary" category against four other films. The winning film will be chosen by a subcommittee and honored at the 49th annual NAACP Image Awards on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 15) at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena. (vegnews.com)

Australia-based airline Jetstar announced this week the addition of a vegan menu to its international flights. The budget airline—a subsidiary of Qantas—is now serving falafel, lentil and quinoa salad, instant vegetable noodles, marinated olives, and cashew sesame snacks. "The feedback we were getting is that it can sometimes be hard to find vegan-friendly options while traveling," Jetstar chief commercial officer Catriona Larritt said. "Research has demonstrated that 'vegan' was googled more in Australia and New Zealand than anywhere else around the world. It's obviously of growing interest to our local customer base, and we wanted to respond to these insights." Jetstar will expand the vegan menu to domestic flights and those to Tasmania starting February 1. (vegnews.com)

On the occasion of International Animal Rights Day on Dec 9th, 2017, hundreds of people will march through the center of Zagreb to bring attention to the injustice that happens to animals every day. The long and loud march will start at 11 A.M. on Trg kralja Tomislava, calling everyone to take a stand for a better, more humane, and just world for all animal species. It will be the call for those who cannot speak for themselves – for all cows, pigs, dogs, chicken, cats, fish and other animal species tortured and killed in the food industry, fashion industry, laboratories, and entertainment industry. In other words, for all animals exploited by humans. Participants from Zagreb, Osijek and other Croatian towns will join the march. International support is expected too.

In honor of Wildlife Conservation Day, social media platform Instagram launched this week a new tool to fight animal exploitation. Instagram now displays a content advisory screen that informs a user about hashtags—such as #slothlife—that might be promoting animal exploitation. "Animal abuse and the sale of endangered animals or their parts is not allowed on Instagram," the pop-up text on the screen states. "You are searching for a hashtag that may be associated with posts that encourage harmful behavior to animals or the environment." Instagram also set up a page in its Help Center to educate users about the exploitation of wild animals. The social media platform will use the tool to discourage users from purchasing wild animals for private use. (vegnews.com)

Vegan director James Cameron and his wife Suzy Amis Cameron penned a feature published this week in The Guardian wherein the couple outlined the environmental degradation caused by animal agriculture. "Animal agriculture is choking the Earth," the Camerons stated, "and the longer we turn a blind eye, the more we limit our ability to nourish ourselves, protect waterways and habitats, and pursue other uses of our precious natural resources." The couple explained the personal choices they have made—such as serving an all-vegan menu on the set of Avatar—in the previous five years to reduce their environmental impact. The couple urges political leaders to help fight climate change by urging citizens to adopt plant-based diets. (vegnews.com)

A team of researchers at the National University of Singapore recently developed a method to repurpose okara—a byproduct of tofu and soy production—into a nutritious plant-based food ingredient. Approximately 10,000 tons of okara are discarded annually in Singapore, as the product has an unpleasant odor, spoils easily, and does not taste good. To transform okara into a palatable food, researchers employed a "biofermentation" process in which the waste was treated with enzymes, steamed, cooled, and allowed to ferment. The transformed okara is high in fiber and lends itself well to be used in plant-based foods such as meat replacers and baked goods. (vegnews.com)

New nonprofit Cruelty-Free Investing (CFI) launched last week to help investors find companies that do not contribute to animal exploitation. CFI evaluates each stock traded publicly on the United States Stock Exchange and classifies companies in two lists: those that exploit animals and those that do not. CFI classifies a company as one that exploits animals if it meets any of its four criteria, including using and/or selling animal skins and byproducts in clothing manufacturing; using and/or selling products that are tested on animals; breeding animals for food and/or testing purposes; and manufacturing or serving food and/or beverages that contain animal products. Currently, government criteria used to identify socially responsible companies does not cover those that participate in animal cruelty, exploitation, or abuse. Several financial organizations currently exist for the sole purpose of funding plant-based companies. (vegnews.com)

New data released this week by Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reveals the major role of the dairy industry in growing greenhouse gas emissions. The figures show that the country emitted 61.19 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2016, which represents a 3.5 percent increase from 2015. In the previous four years, the number of dairy cows in Ireland has increased by 22 percent, and greenhouse-gas emissions have subsequently increased by eight percent during that time. Every nation in the world—excluding the United States—is currently working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to fight global climate change under The Paris Agreement. Eimear Cotter, director of the EPA's Office of Environmental Sustainability, said that the growing dairy industry is a major hindrance to the country's ability to meet its climate change goals. "The growth in this sector," Cotter said, "particularly for dairy and other cattle, points to very significant risks in relation to meeting our decarbonization objectives." (vegnews.com)

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Animal Friends is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, founded in 2001 with the aim to promote animal protection and animal rights as well as veganism, as ethical, ecological and healthy lifestyle.
Animal Friends Croatia is a member organization of EVU,
Eurogroup for Animals, ECEAE, FFA, IAFC and OIPA.